The Runtime Economy: Designing for Generative Capacity

Abstract

Generative AI is usually discussed as a way to do existing work faster and at lower cost. This seminar examines a more fundamental change: the runtime economy, in which value is constituted at the moment of use, when models, data, tools, and human knowledge come together in a particular situation. Endogenous utility, generative externalities, and generative capabilities explain how successive interactions can expand what people and organizations are able to do. Architecture determines who can bring resources together, who controls their use, and who can retain and build on the learning they generate. The goal is to expand the human frontier in the service of human flourishing.

Biography

Youngjin Yoo is Professor of Information Systems and Innovation in the Department of Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he also serves as Academic Director of LSE Lifelong Learning Digital & Innovation.He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2026 and is a Fellow of the Association for Information Systems.

His research examines how digital technologies reshape the way organisations innovate and create economic value. His work on layered modular architecture, experiential computing and the digital-first ontology has contributed to the study of digital innovation, platforms and generativity. His current research develops a theory of the generative economy, examining how generative machines change the creation and distribution of value and the organisation of firms.

He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles, cited over 33,000 times, in journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Organization Science, theAcademy of Management Journal and Communications of the ACM. His research has attracted over $10 million in funding from organisations including the US National Science Foundation, NASA, the Knight Foundation, the Walmart Foundation and Samsung Electronics.

Professor Yoo serves as Senior Editor of Information Systems Research and has held senior editorial roles at MIS Quarterly and the Journal of Strategic Information Systems. Before joining LSE, he held the Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Professorship in Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University, the Harry A. Cochran Professorship of Management Information Systems at Temple University, and the WBS Distinguished Research Environment Professorship at Warwick Business School. He holds a PhD in Management from the University of Maryland.

He founded xLab at Case Western Reserve University and the Urban Apps & Maps Studios at Temple University, connecting research with industry and civic practice. He also served as Chief Innovation Architect at University Hospitals Cleveland and co-founded Halo Harbour, a privacy-preserving AI platform.